Love and basketball

Twyman, Mickens, Robinson contemplate next move after JuCo

Sherwood graduate Deontay Twyman, the 2007 Gazette boys basketball Player of the Year, is looking for his fourth basketball team in the last four years after exhausting his eligibility at Polk (Fla.) Community College.

Two winters ago, they were three of the best basketball players in Montgomery County. Now, Deontay Twyman, Donald Robinson and Rodney Mickens are some thousand miles away, just hoping to be basketball players somewhere.

The 2007 high school graduates, longtime friends and AAU teammates, recently finished their sophomore season at Polk Community College in Winter Haven, Fla. They helped the Vikings to one of the best seasons in school history, but each is unsure of his immediate basketball future.

"We're pretty much in the gym every day together," said Twyman. "We stay on campus together, same apartment complexes. We're all just trying to get better until we take the step."

That next step could be different for all three.

Twyman, the six-time All-Gazette honoree (three times each for football and basketball) and 2007 Player of the Year, is almost guaranteed to land at a four-year college program; about the only guarantee he has had in awhile.

After quarterbacking Sherwood to back-to-back Class 4A football state finals, Twyman planned to stay on the gridiron in college. Then he led the basketball team to a state championship as a senior, and followed that up with 16 points in the prestigious Capital Classic high-school all-star game.

Twyman committed to basketball and Ball State University (Ind.), but head coach Ronnie Thompson, who recruited Twyman, was fired two months after his signing. After averaging less than four minutes a game as a freshman, he transferred to Polk.

He fit in perfectly, averaging over 18 points per game as the Vikings won 26 games, including a 15-game unbeaten streak beginning in January.

"Deontay was just huge for us," said Polk head coach Matt Furjanic. "In scoring, he was pushing the ball upcourt for transition buckets and he was our big free-throw shooter down at the end. Then he just became such a big 3-point threat; even with his small size, he's able to get that jump shot off. Deontay's going to go places."

Added Twyman: "A lot of schools are talking to me right now: Duquense, St. Louis, Pepperdine, Towson, Middle Tennessee State, Maryland-Eastern Shore. Two years from now, man, hopefully I'll be overseas somewhere playing. I definitely don't care where. Wherever, as long as I'm still playing."

Robinson and Mickens share the same dream. Neither is opposed to going anywhere, though according to the latter: "I'd love to play in Greece. I could see myself there."

Both played alongside Twyman on the Maryland Prospects AAU squad. They were coached by St. John's (D.C.) assistant Nima Omidvar, a friend of current Polk assistant coach Phil Cohen (a former assistant at Northwest).

Mickens actually followed Robinson south immediately after graduating from Gaithersburg, but he shares many similarities with Twyman. Mickens was also a three-year varsity quarterback in high school, and always dreamed of playing on the college gridiron.

"Me and Deontay talk about it all the time," said Mickens. "I always, always wish I had a football in my hand. I've always played both, but I've been playing football since I was 6 years old. But I love basketball, too."

A 5-foot-11 point guard, Mickens calls his future "all up in the air."

Robinson's future likely falls somewhere in between the other two. The 6-4 wing guard, an All-Gazette first-teamer as a senior when he led Magruder to the state championship game, was the first of the trio to commit to Polk.

His game has changed quite a bit over the last two years. Robinson has become a midrange shooter after generally either getting all the way to the rim or shooting threes with the Colonels. As he put it: "People don't work on it in high school; I know I didn't. It's gotten way, way better."

While he would like to play at a Division I college, the current frontrunner for his services is Cameron University (Okla.), a Division II school.

"I have no doubt; both Rodney and Donald will be playing somewhere next year," said Furjanic. "Both were great for us off the bench. Donald is going to have choices."

But it doesn't seem Robinson cares where he's playing next year, or five years from now, as long as he's on the court.

"I just want to be playing, no matter what," he said. "I would like to go overseas somewhere; that would probably be the best for me. I can't see myself not playing ball."